Judge rules Justice Department rushed Harvard admissions data case

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice against Harvard University on Monday. The government had sued the Ivy League school for allegedly failing to provide admissions records during an investigation into its use of affirmative action.

The dispute traces back to 2025, when the Justice Department launched a compliance review of Harvard’s admissions practices. Officials requested five years of data for applicants to the undergraduate, medical, and law schools. The request included grades, test scores, essays, extracurricular activities, admissions outcomes, and the race and ethnicity of each applicant.

Justice Department officials stated they needed this information to determine whether Harvard continued to consider race in admissions decisions. This inquiry follows a 2023 Supreme Court ruling that barred affirmative action in college admissions after legal challenges at Harvard and the University of North Carolina.

The Department of Justice accused Harvard of thwarting its efforts to investigate potential discrimination. The agency argued that the university refused to comply with a federal investigation and asked a judge to order the release of the records. U.S. District Judge Myong Joun concluded that the government did not follow the necessary procedural steps before filing the suit.

Joun wrote that the agency must first advise the recipient of its failure to comply and determine that voluntary compliance is impossible. “Before taking enforcement action under the statutory framework, the agency must advise the recipient of its failure to comply and determine that compliance cannot be secured by voluntary means,” Joun wrote.

The judge clarified that the ruling resolves a limited procedural question. It does not determine whether Harvard discriminated or whether the agencies may lawfully seek applicant-level data. “The ruling does not determine whether Harvard has discriminated, whether the agencies may lawfully seek appropriately defined applicant-level data, or whether Harvard may ultimately be required to provide such data,” Joun noted.

This decision marks another setback for the Trump administration in its ongoing legal battles with Harvard. The administration has previously lost federal court cases regarding billions of dollars in funding cuts and a lawsuit accusing the university of antisemitism. Trump officials claim they are acting to correct anti-Jewish bias on campus. Harvard officials describe the conflict as unconstitutional retaliation for refusing to adopt the administration’s ideological views. In October, the Justice Department also found that the University of California, Los Angeles, law school illegally considered race in admissions, following a similar finding against the university’s medical school.